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Fw: Finding Light At The End Of The Tunnel

Finding Light At The End Of The Tunnel By Pauline Thivierge BA, CMHt., RP It could be assumed that there is an alarming rise in depression if we consider the

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, Aug 1, 2005

Finding Light
At The End Of The Tunnel

By Pauline Thivierge
BA, CMHt., RP

It could be assumed that there is an alarming rise in
depression if we consider the ever-increasing volume of antidepressant
medication advertised in the media. Fortunately, for our convenience, it is not
even necessary to remember the name of the advertised pill, as each seems to be
colour-coded. If we have the advertised symptoms, we need only ask our doctors
for that coloured pill to banish the blues. Thanks to the magic of
pharmaceuticals it is possible to abolish feelings. This treatment option may
subdue depressive symptoms, but it can also dull potentially good and healthy
feelings from being expressed.

Depression is a very real and
potentially disabling problem for many people. In Analytical Hypnotherapy,
Volume II, Morison emphasizes that depression can seriously interfere with the
clients ability to cope with life and to function successfully. One can
experience anything from extreme apathy, fatigue and irritability to
hopelessness and thoughts of suicide. Further, Emrika Padus in The Complete
Guide to Your Emotions and Your Health, states that living for a prolonged
period of time with feelings of helplessness and gloom can increase our
vulnerability to diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis allergies, cancer and
even AIDS.

It is startling to consider
that pharmaceutical advertising and the increasing number of physicians who
prescribe antidepressants do it as the exclusive treatment of choice without
suggesting alternatives. This has become evident in my clinical practice in
which most of the clients on antidepressants are women. In none of these cases
had there been any other form of therapy suggested in addition to the
medication. Many of these people had been on antidepressants for years. One
woman reported that she had been on antidepressants for more than fifteen
years.

A common theme expressed by
these women was a relief from the feelings of sadness and an increased ability
to get through the day. This relief however came at the price of experiencing a
flat line of emotions. They felt no real happiness, joy or excitement and
their everyday problems like financial, marital, career and family concerns
continued without resolution. Low self-esteem issues were still prevalent as
were many long-term psychological issues, but these were made more tolerable
because feelings were controlled by the medication.

I worked with a woman who had
tried every diet available to lose weight. She would lose a few pounds only to
gain back more than she had lost. The weight problem had existed for about eight
years and she hated her physical appearance. Nine months prior to this, she had
been placed on antidepressants by her physician in response to continual
tearfulness, feelings of fear, lethargy and hopelessness.

In my approach to treatment,
I began by helping her to identify reasons for the symptoms she was
experiencing. As she was unable to connect to any causal factors I began to
discuss some of the emotional and psychological characteristics frequently
associated with excessive weight gain. She broke into tears as I spoke of weight
as being an insulator or protective mechanism in response to something fearful.
It was at that point she admitted that when she was heaviest her husband would
not initiate intimacy with her. When she was lighter he would make advances
towards her, which she did not want. While she wanted to lose weight to feel
better about herself, the weight protected her from something much more
powerfully motivating than her desire to be thinner.

Further discussion revealed
that in her twelve years of marriage she experienced constant verbal and
psychological abuse with intermittent physical abuse. With two school-aged
daughters to raise and a lack of education, she depended on her husband for
financial support. Emotionally battered for years, she felt worthless and was
frightened that her husband would harm her if she ever tried to leave. She felt
trapped. These were valid reasons to feel depressed. Though her husband
continued his insults and controlling behaviour along with the occasional slaps
and punches, she felt better able to resign herself to her situation as she
didnt feel much since taking the antidepressants. Her physician didnt know
the story. He hadnt asked and she didnt tell him.

Our work together did not
focus on weight loss but rather ego strengthening, life skill development and
problem solving. Her self-perception began to change positively when she
returned to high school to complete her diploma and she found herself liked and
respected by peers and classmates. After finding a part-time job her self-
esteem continued to grow, and having explored the services available to single
mothers and abused women she left the marriage.

The changes did not happen
over night and during most of this time she . remained on her medication, though
at continually decreasing amounts. Today she has a full-time job with a chance
of promotion, a nice apartment which she shares with her youngest daughter, and
she likes her life. The antidepressants were weaned out of her daily routine,
unlike many who stay on these drugs for a lifetime.

With this approach to
treating depression, the underlying emotional and psychological issues are dealt
with, not simply medicated away. This underlines the difference between coping
with depression and learning to take control over it. In his book, The Mind Body
Prescription, Dr. John E. Sarno presented a case of a fifty-year old man with a
long history of depression. Antidepressants helped to elevate his spirits for a
short time until he suddenly developed severe manifestations of TMS [Tension
Myositis Syndrome], including major muscle weakness in one of his ankles. Dr.
Sarno saw this as a case of symptom substitution. The medication had altered
this mans brain chemistry and alleviated his depression, but it failed to
change the inner conflicts responsible for his depression. In fact, the body
substituted leg and back pain in place of the depressive symptoms.

The family physician is
usually the first and frequently the only contact that a person with depression
will make. Dr. Sarno identifies that few physicians believe that illness results
from repressed emotions. Psychoanalysts, he claims, are the only clinicians
who have held to the concept, but their influences in the larger fields of
psychiatry and general medicine is limited. Sarno contends that contemporary
psychiatric research identifies chemical events in the brain associated with
certain pathological states, like depression, and then assumes that if the
symptom can be altered with drugs, the disorder is cured.

Most medical training is
focused upon symptom removal rather than the exposure and removal of causal
factors. The current trend towards minimizing depression as the result of brain
chemistry imbalance, and the vested interests of the pharmaceutical companies
have only reinforced the current, accepted approach to the treatment of
depression. Medication or some form of chemical intervention may well be
necessary to help an individual with depression gain an experience of emotional
stability, but it should not be at the exclusion of processing and experiencing
feelings and emotions. This band aid approach does not provide a long-term,
successful solution.

If you are struggling with
depression, are on medication, are about to be put on medication or on nothing
at all, it may help you to deal with the underlying issues of the depression. Do
not be satisfied to simply not feel. A qualified therapist can assist you to
resolve past issues and learn to take control of the events of your life that
have disempowered you. There is light, life and a whole range of feelings at the
end of the depression tunnel.

Pauline Thivierge is a
rehabilitation counsellor, cognitive therapist and hypnotherapist who works out
of her office in the Muskoka region. She is a regular contributor to The Natural
Healer magazine and is available for workshops, seminars and private
appointments. For more information or to order her self-hypnosis tape series you
can call Pauline at 1-866-337-2586.